Dance with Me

Hello Monday!  I know not all of you find Mondays jolly.  The end of the weekend and the beginning of a work week.  Usually, I'm scheduled for work, too, however I took a vacation day.  September 4 is my anniversary date, and all vacation needs to be used by then.   Believe me, I mean to oblige.

While yesterday was not fully productive, I did get a lot accomplished.  Most of the laundry I do during the week has already been run through the washer, and the dryer, and been folded and placed in drawers, or hung up my in closet.  

I was supposed to go down to York, but that trip has been postponed until next Sunday.  

We had a lot of rain last evening and over the night.  Thunderstorms.  They were not explosive, no rip-roaring bolts of lightning raking across the sky, no blasts of thunder trembling the earth beneath my house.  Nope.  There was thunder and lightning, but it kept its distance.

As some of you know, in my last book, The Body in Repose, one of the victims was a male belly dancer in the King Tut Review.  Even though I'm no longer doing research, I still get feeds regarding male belly dancers.  This is Giulio Dilemmi.  He does classes and workshops across Europe, if any of you over there are interested.  Can we talk muscle control? 

I saw where Betsy DeVos went on record as saying she thought the Department of Education should be shut down, that the states alone should be in charge of education.  I do believe she's wearing her helmet hair a lot tighter than usual.  Conservatives love this idea, of being able to set a conservative, indoctrinating curriculum.  Helmet Head Betsy, however, failed to mention how much the Federal government helps finance school districts across the nation through many grants and reimbursements. Without that aid, local school taxes would go through the roof.  

Steve Bannon's trial starts today.  He had said he was going to go medieval... I wonder if that means he's going to show up wearing a chainmail shirt, perhaps in preparation for going to the clink.  Sorry, I just had to do that.

 

Well, I get to go back to work today... ho... hum.

Yesterday I drove down to That Fish Place.  After reading Jennifer's blog about the difficulties Greg was having setting up the school aquarium, I should have been better prepared for all of the holes on their shelves... and empty fish tanks.  They, too, were Essential, I was told "and everybody decided lockdown was a good time to start a new hobby."   As a result, my tank looks a bit sparse.  I only picked up 3 plants.  There had a tank with a small number of small Discus, but $50 a piece was a bit pricey.  I opted for 4 teeny, weeny Koi Angelfish, each about the size of a quarter.  Believe me, that's about all they had in freshwater fish.  

I also rode 19 miles up the coastline of Corsica yesterday.  My legs were a bit achy, but otherwise I was fine.  I'm doing the Trek Challenge again this year.  I need to ride 100 miles in July.  So far I've got 61 under my belt.  One guy taking part in the challenge has already ridden over 1300 miles... yeah, that's right, over 1300 miles.  And it's only July 9.  Can we talk obsessive / compulsive ?

Betsy DeVos has decided all children must go back to school this fall.  This is coming from a woman who's children have gone to prestigious private schools.  She is nothing more than a wealthy bitch.  A woman who believes her buckos in the bank make her an authority needs to be removed from power.  One thing the Idiot Jerk's administration had proven time and time again, most wealthy people are cold, ruthless, and dumb as bricks.

And, of course, there are Covid 19 spikes all over the place.  In Tulsa, for example.  Can you imagine that?  City officials are saying their spike is due to the protests and the rally, in that order.  For some reason, protests have not led to major spikes.  This is interesting, since there have been some very major protests.  However, in Tulsa they're claiming their spike was due to the protests first... and then the rally.  Republicans... always needing to blame somebody else.

For those who are interested, this is what the tank looks like so far.

More will be added.

Hello! It's me!

So it's Tuesday and I started my weekend last evening by doing 3 loads of laundry.  Very nice.  There are supposedly very heavy storms headed our way this afternoon... will have to wait and see just how heavy.  The last time storms were forecast we had a 15 minute squall line with occasional spotty deluge.  Nothing to write home about, if you know what I mean.
There were protests in Harrisburg yesterday.  I didn't see any of it since I don't watch cable.  Maddie saw some images on CNN.  The less attention these yocals get the better it is for the country.  I find it interesting that a number of these protests are being supported by the De Vos family.  That right, that Cracker Jack Christian Betsy De Vos, she with the helmet hair, has no problem sending people out to get infected.  This should come as no surprise since the family made it's money from the king of all Pyramid Schemes known as Amway.
I saw this morning the tinfoil dictator wanna be is going to is one his Executive Orders to stop all immigration.  This is because the virus is spreading in high interest destination points for immigrants... like Nebraska.  Is that right?  Of course not, he's just throwing a bone to his xenophobic base.  Immigrants are just one more target on his Spinning Wheel Blame Game. 
Southern states are dropping their restrictions and starting to send people back to work even though the experts say it is way to soon.  This shouldn't surprise you since there are a lot of minorities in Georgia, and Tennessee, and South Carolina.  Covid - 19 is tough on minorities, however it's also true in likes Crackers.  The Idiot Jerk's bib is covered with Cracker Crumbs.  You see, he doesn't care who lives or dies.  Believe me when I tell you he is more concerned about our crumbling economy than human life.
Yesterday was the first day we had to wear a mask or face covering at some time while working.  I suspect this will become the norm until they develop either a cure or a vaccine.  I wore my cute little tube bandanna.  I received a lot of compliments.  So much so, I ordered three more, in different colors and patterns of course. Just because you need to wear a face covering doesn't mean you can't be stylish.  And what makes these tube bandannas far superior to the standard N95 mask is they let you go completely incognito!  No one will know who you are.

Let there be blood

This! Is! My! Friday!  Well... actually it's a Thursday, but I am off for the next 2 days and that counts for something.  And the weather is not supposed to be that bad... a bit cool, but no steady rain... at least that's what they're forecasting for now.  We'll have to wait and see.
If the weather cooperates, I see more lawn work in the offing.  I bought dahlias to put in next to the Itoh peonies.  My squash and melon seeds are already in the ground... hopefully germinating as I type.  There's also blood red poppies and spearmint and cilantro... the mint's for tea.
Julian Assange as been arrested. in London.  How's that for happy news.  I suspected he's really concerned... poor thing (cheeky sarcasm).  Aren't there rape charges against him in Denmark?  He's a loudmouth who thrives off of spilling other people's secrets, now all the dirt he's been trying to sweep under his own rug is going to be revealed.  He is going to learn all about Karma...
And what about Billie Barr claiming the Federal Government was spying on the Idiot Jerk during the 2016 election.  This love song is directed at one specific block of voters, the blood red, MAGA hatted buffoons and brain dead Republicans who hate everything they can't control.  His goal?  To enrage them, to keep them charged up, to insure they show up at the polls in 2020.  Why?  Because the Idiot Jerk in the White House has an approval rating of 43% - that's a death knell if you're trying to get your ass re-elected.  They understand this.  The only way he can keep his tax returns secret, the only way he can keep from being indicted, is to get himself re-elected.  The only way Stevie M., and Betsy D., and Mikey M. and Billy B. from being indicted, is to keep the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  Oh, that's right, there are 2 Stevie M's, Mnuchin and Miller, well hell, they're both crooks, so let's get both of them behind bars.
So, I got a text yesterday from Cori, the woman working on my book cover, that included several pictures of background color.  She asked one question:  do you prefer pastels or blood.  I looked at all the pics she had sent me, different pastels, and they were all nice.  Then I looked at the one in which she'd let her creativity run wild and couldn't stop myself from smiling.  My reply was a no-brainer:  Let there be blood.

Photogenic Excuses

Okay, sometime today, or this evening, Flo is going to make landfall.  Torrential rains are forecast.  Because she's a bitch, she might just choose to sit on her ass for a couple of days and piss all over the Carolinas.  I'm not talking buckets here, I'm talking feet.  If you're in a low lying region, run for the hills, literally.  Getting hit by a wall of moving water is just like running headfirst into a wall of bricks.
Oh, and the guy from FEMA says they only gave $10 million to ICE.
On a lighter note, Betsy DeVos got a boot up her ass.  Where as the Obama administration had a problem with predatory schools, Betsy doesn't.  She doesn't see anything wrong with a school that lies to you, makes phony promises, and fakes statistical records in order to sign you up for high interest loan.  To Betsy, that's just American Capitalism.  Her government should not have to police these scavengers.  If you sign on that dotted line, then you, and you alone, are responsible for the financial wreckage that loan will cost.  Except 18 states, plus the District of Columbia, sued ol' Betsy, and a Federal Judge said they were right and she was wrong.  So far there's been no comment from the Department of Education.  No doubt Betsy doesn't know how to respond to someone telling her to "just shut up."
On the even funnier side of things, articles are beginning to pop up about the mid-terms.  Conservative political pundits are scratching their heads.  They don't understand how, with the economy this good, so many can hate the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  His approval rating has dropped to 39.9 - that's really terrible, especially with an economy that's this good.  These conservatives believe if you're making money, you should be happy with any scumbag sitting in the Oval Office.  They don't understand why people don't say "well, so what if he's a reprehensible dick, I'm making money."  And they are muttering about the up coming elections, about how that non-Hispanic Ted Cruz is struggling against that Irish guy Beto O'Rourke, (don't let the last name fool you, Beto is proud of his Hispanic heritage).  I saw one article in which the suggestion was made that Beto must be surging in the polls because he was more photogenic than Ted... 

These people are so fucking stupid.  Their tones are low as they discuss other Senate races, the ones they thought of as sure things.  What did they think was going to happen?  Did they really think a majority of the American People were just going to sit back and swallow their shit?  And instead of dealing with the problem, they're looking for photogenic excuses.

Phonies among us

Well, it's Tuesday.  This is my 6th day working.  I'm off tomorrow, won't that be nice?  And Thursday!
So back on Sunday I had this young couple come in, they're going to be selling their house and want to new carpet installed.  She was all about how they wanted to make sure the new home owners had decent carpet, not top tier, but definitely not bottom of the barrel, and they want to take advantage of our free installation program.  After looking around, they settled on a cheap $1.00 per square foot carpet (bottom of the barrel).  Padding was supposed to be a nice, medium grade... and, of course, they went for the cheapest we sell.  For some reason, when I did their estimate, they were charged an installation charge.  They didn't like that, so we said we'd try and figure out why.  Yesterday she called to see if we'd found out why our estimator was including the charge, and she was all rancid, honey sweet, saying things like "That carpet color is just perfect with our paint," and "That texture would really pop in our living room," and "I know this is upsetting for you," and... well you get the picture.  She's a phony sack of shit.  They're going as cheap as possible.  I know why they're getting an installation charge:  normally that carpet is a lot cheaper.  The price was raised so customers could use it for the free installation... and there's a slight glitch.  The estimator still qualifies it as being too cheap.  Today I'll call her and tell her the truth, though I won't tell her she's a cheap sack of shit.  Oh, and to make her phoniness even worse, she ended her phone conversation by saying "and you have a blessed day."
Oh, and today there's also a special election out in the western part of the state to replace a Republican scumbag.  Evidently the Republican, some phony named Saccone, is lagging in the polls.  How desperate is this phony?  Well, he's starting ripping whole chapters out of the Roy Moore play book shrieking things like my opponents hate the Idiot Jerk (so true), they hate families (??? I know Republicans hate Muslim families, and interracial families, and same sex families, but Democrats and Independents don't), oh... and the hate God.  Can you smell the desperation?  We'll have to wait and see how this plays out.
And finally, for a bit of levity, if you haven't seen the Betsy DeVos interview done for 60 minutes, you really should, just for the hooting hell of it.  This woman is dumb as a fucking brick.

Money can't buy you intelligence, nor can it keep you from being a phony.

Room

Thursday... and I get to go back to work... and I'll get to go back for 6 days in a row - no breaks.  Ah, well, that's life.
I rode 5 miles on the bike this AM.  It was okay.  I'm much better later in the morning or early in the afternoon.  This is one of my personal challenges, to hop on the bike at 0615 and ride for 12 - 15 miles.  This means that tomorrow morning I'm going to have to jump on the bike and ride at least 6 or 7 miles.
Saw some biting comments in Bloomberg yesterday about the Gary Cohn and his departure from the Idiot Jerk's administration; that he stayed long enough to give himself and his other billionaire buddies a permanent tax cut.
Oh, and I saw that Betsy DeVos walked out of a press conference down at Parkland... after taking 5 questions in about 5 minutes.  The students aren't happy because, she was only prepared to put in an appearance... photo-ops, you know?  What more can you expect from a clueless billionairess who was educated, to some small degree, at an expensive private school.  This woman will never understand that her net worth has little, if any, bearing on her intelligence.  This problem is almost pandemic among the wealthy.  She wears the concept of "I'm rich so I'm smarter than you," like a well fitting dunce cap, which means she's stylishly stupid.
When I went up to bed last night I'd found that both dogs had gotten there before me.  This is somewhat unusual in that Lily sleeps on the sofa till I head upstairs, and then follows me up.  However, last night, when I turned on the bedroom light, this is what I found.

That's a queen size bed, and as you can see, they didn't leave me a lot of room.

Rumor has it

Well, here it is Tuesday, my first day off.  I'm going to go see Thor tonight, that should be fun, and sometime today I'm going to need to go to the supermarket to buy a big bag of dog food... and I mean a big bag!
I went in to Zillo today to see what my house was worth... not bad, up $40K over my purchase price.  The plan has always been to sell when the dogs are gone, but then, I might end up getting another dog; three of them, wow, that would be great.  If I do get a 3rd it'll have to be soon, before Lily gets too old - it's not a good thing when old dogs need to deal with puppies.
This afternoon I'm also going to be signing the paperwork for my Mom to go into Hospice... this does not mean things have taken a turn for the worse since her doctors have been wanting us to get her into a program for months.  We are not anticipating the end of her life anytime soon.  However, from this afternoon forward, her Senior Living facility will need to call Hospice prior to calling 911, which is a problem.  Greenfield is far more concerned about their liability than they are her health so every time she's a little nauseated, or has a little shortness of breath, they have the EMT's transport her to the hospital.  For that 'non-life threatening ride there is a $900 charge.  That will stop.
And here's a little cheery rose bud tidbit of news, Betsy DeVos is... sort of expected... to step down.  Even Breitbart is whispering about this.  You see Betsy is a Rich. Bitch. who wants things Her. Way. and that doesn't appear to be happening.  Let's talk about slapping a billionaire bimbo in the face, shall we?  I can't even imagine how galling that must be for someone with such an expensive personality.  In spite of her tailor made suits and form fitting hairdo, she gets little to no respect.  Perhaps it was her grizzly bear comment, or maybe people just realize she's wacked out in the head, but for what ever reason she is not well liked.  This must be truly frustrating for her since I'm sure she believes that the small-minded deity she worships chose her specifically for this job.  Ooopps.  Of course, it could also be that just like the Idiot Jerk in the White House, she doesn't deal with criticism well.  But then, too, she might also believe that she's... well... too good for the position, that what she really did when she accepted the job offer was to step down from her pedestal.  What ever.  Rumor has it her days are numbered.

Well, it's time for me to go get that big bag of dog food.

De Vos is on the side of The Accused.

So I see Betsy De Vos is going to try and eliminate as much of Title IX as possible.  That's right, she's taking the side of the accused, saying they are being prosecuted too hard, too often and tying up the courts.  She gave one example, in speech she gave to Conservative and Libertarian lawmakers.  For those of you who don't remember, this is the same Betsy De Vos who, shortly after Republicans approved her as Secretary of Education, who need to have additional security after her entrance to a school was blocked by a... protester.  She has no problem is the tax payers get billed in order to keep her from being yelled at in public.  She doesn't want to be a victim, yet she seems to care little about the victims of sexual assault on college campuses.  Too expensive, you know.  No doubt she believes that boys will be boys.
The new trainer works well.  I am having some issues with the App.  This morning I was in the middle of a session and the app kicked back to the main screen saving nothing.  The Fenix 3Hr saved the moment.  The trainer didn't shut off, just the app.  Weird.  if it happens again I be forced to send an email.

I am going back to work today.  Uuuhhh.  I so wish I didn't have to.  I suspect it's going to be a long, 8 hour day.

Yesterday I was a Slouch

That's right.  It was my day off.  I had a lot of things planned: riding the bike, cleaning, doing laundry.  However, after I finished writing my blog I went to my local Giant to pick up few necessities... and ended up buy Chinese Food.  I love Chinese Food, especially their noodle dishes.  Forty some years ago the US Navy flew me to the Western Pacific, having decided to station me on board the USS Constellation.  My first port of call, after that long, long flight, was in Hong Kong.  And the first thing my friends and I did when we got ashore was go to a Chinese restaurant.  What we have in this country is American Chinese cooking, nothing at all like what they served up in Hong Kong.  This is why I learned to cook Chinese, and why I go to Chinese supermarkets.
Anyway, yesterday I hit my local Giant where they have a Chinese take-out and ended up buying about 5 pounds of Lo Mein... well, not really that much, but you get the idea.  So yesterday, instead of accomplishing quite a lot, I ended up nibbling the day through a lot of Lo Mein.  I did get 3 loads of laundry done.  That's right.  No cycling.  No weight training.  I was a slouch.

I did see that the clueless Republicans managed to get Betsy de Vos approved.  That's a mistake.  Evangelicals are a giddy because no they believe the Federal Government is going to give them vouchers to send their kids to Krazy Kristian schools.  That's all they care about.  The fact that those Krazy Kristian Schools are just as bad, have just as many problems are regular schools doesn't occur to them.  They don't care if their kids are still doing drugs, or drinking, or girls are getting pregnant, at least their doing it in a Christian environment.  Idiots.